I have two New Years I like to celebrate, my birthday and the one the rest of the world celebrates. My birthday in December is the day I begin setting new goals and the January first is my start date. I do this so I can have a preparation period. All great plans begin with….well a plan. One of my plans is to make sure this blog is a place for all to go and enjoy a little uplifting read and a bit of decision making inspiration. As my husband once told me, you can do anything you want you just need time management and a plan. He’s a top level exec that thrives off of organization and a schedule (although he has a team that keeps his life in order including me and I just have lil ole me).

So what to look forward to? I will post 4 times a month, once weekly. We will break this life down into quarters and we will set goals and accomplish them!! We will see the world, start businesses and enjoy more family time. I often push other things aside so I can do these things but I wait until I’m overwhelmed then I react, NO MORE!!

Week 1 Sorting Sunday- This will be our weekly to do list. We will get our list to get our lives. Sunday is the day we need to have all of the events of our week in order. I will post mine so you can take a page out of my book as to what I plan to accomplish. This will probably be the longest of the month because it will have a menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It will have all of the fill in slots for everything you will need for the month. It will be based on the month ahead.

Week 2 Maintence Monday- This will be our list of things we need to do for ourselves as individuals for personal health and happiness. This is the day where we make ourselves better with self love so we can properly love others.

Week 3 Trinket Tuesadays- I am always finding things that make my life easier. I love shopping and I love bringing things home even more. I have the best stuff lol. I am always sharing with friends and families the new books I’ve read, the new cooking gadget or new pet product.

Week 4 Fashion Friyay – This will be a day of displaying my best fashion finds and looks of the month. I am constantly changing and learning about new tricks and trends in hair and makeup so although I don’t wear it often, I always give makeup a spin and I LOVE makeup shopping and trying. Ill post my cocktail on call for the season as well as anything that has me happy for the month because there’s no better day than a Friday!!

I hope you enjoy our new format and I l0ok forward to this new year with you! Now let the countdown begin!!~!

As I sit here in Houston on day 2 of our trip to Paris, I think of all that has gotten us to this place. Let this story be a lesson to all of you who travel.

Monday morning was like any other day just better. I got the kids up, fed them and the dogs and hung out with my husband as we packed last minute things for our trip. Everything was perfect!! We even somehow managed to get the flight I love that lets us sleep and arrive in my favorite city at 8am.

We pack up the car and head to the airport. Things were going well I even found some help with the bags as soon as we parked. Just when the excitement of having a pre flight meal and cocktail set in, my knowledge would change forever. The attendant behind the counter informed me that my daughter could not go because her passport expires in a month and a half and it has to be valid for at least three and sometimes six months for international travel. I begged and pleaded for some other option but the only one that existed was to rebook my flight to the following day and get an expidited passport for her.

I rushed out off the airport and had my husband head to the passport office while we rushed to have a photo taken only to find that we needed all of the documents I have neatly stashed in a folder in my desk drawer. So day one was officially a wash! To the house we go!

Day Two we rise at 5am to be first at the passport office by 7:30am. We arrive and I pay and park. We go in only to find a whole building of people that were there by 6am. In addition to that we were walk ins. The next bit of great news we get is that they don’t even begin handing passports out before 2:30 and our flight left at 3:45. GREAT! I was frantic! My husband was out of town and only my friend Myya knew about the drama that led to us still being in Houston. So Myya and I came up with an amazing plan that would cut it close, but get us on that plane!

We will get the passport made

We would take her the form to pick up the passport

Then we would head to the airport and check bags

She would pick the passport up and drop it to us

We would get Mila all checked in and then we would head through security and board the plane

up up and away Paris here we come

Well had that worked I would be writing this from Paris this morning instead I am waiting for that same 3:45 flight today. Everything was going well until we walked out of the passport office to take the pick up documents to Myya. I walked out to find a boot on my car. Yep, I ran out of time in the passport office and even first offenses get you the boot. I called the people and just shelled out the $128 to get the boots removed (all while in tears). We headed to Myya, dropped the documents then headed to the airport. Myya headed to the passport office only to be told to sit and wait and there was no chance of getting it before 2:30. As I began to check the bags the clerk informed me she couldn’t because Mila’s passport would be needed so she directed me to sit and wait. I was really in tears now and Myya was still waiting. The likelihood of this flight was dim. I then feel a tap on my shoulder and they informed me that the flight was closing and we could rebook. The tears could not have gotten any bigger.

I went and rebooked with one last hope left. Air France and Delta are co-chairs so maybe Delta would help me out and get me on their next flight. WRONG! They let me know my best bet would be to wait for my flight the next day OR pay $2,000/ticket to change it…..and not even first class. I was officially out of gas! My day was a wash. I gathered my kids with Mila’s newly minted passport in hand and took that walk, with our luggage, back to the great parking space we got right by the elevator. All was not lost because after all it was national tequila day so I could just go drink my sorrows away. I should be happy, I consumed no calories all day other than my coffee plus the strolling back and forward, up and down ramps while pushing about 100lbs of luggage I was ready to pound 2-3 margaritas with no guilt. Well, the reality was I was to exhausted to drive home and my honey was out of town on business so he wouldn’t be back until about 10pm so drinking was not an option. I had no one to drive me to our fave margarita establishment nor did I have the energy to break out the margaritaville machine to make some (oh and I guess that drinking alone thing I should care about lol).

I decided to call the hubby and let him know, all bets were off. The kids ate junk food for dinner (Burger King) and I got a bad habit favorite, Popeyes 3 wings, mashed potatoes and a big ole strawberry Fanta! We ate in the car, arrived home, I got in the shower let the kids finish off the sugar cookies we baked after the first disappointment of not making our flight and I laid on the couch watching The Young and The Restless.

So now two days into our trip we are waiting to make that trek again to the airport to catch that plane and hopefully have that preflight meal and cocktail. I hope all of the trouble is behind us and we can share with our littles the joys of Paris we have come to know. The moral of the story is…..When you notice your passport is expiring in one year or less, have it renewed immediately. Had I known this I would be in Paris right now.

Recently I was chatting with a friend about planning my ten year vow renewal celebration and she made a comment that stuck with me. She told me that being newly married she wishes more people would talk about the truths of marriage, the bad and worse parts. She was saying this because we all like to tell everyone when things are going well but sometimes others need to know that the drama thats happening doesn’t mean their marriage is doomed, it just means two are becoming one.

I don’t mean you need to go spreading your dirty laundry, we just all need to be a little more supportive when others are going through the growing pains of marriage. I told her, out of the 12 years my husband and I have been together, we may have had a total of four years we’ve been blissfully in love. That doesn’t mean we have not had amazing times along the way, it just means there have been constant struggles of trying to get two people to agree on one thing….ALL OF THE TIME.

Shannon and I are a particularly special couple because he thinks he is always right, and I AM always right LOL. When we agree, life is magical but a disagreement as simple as how to load the dishwasher has turned into a civil war in our home. A 30 year married woman gave me some of the best advice ever. She told me “the way to stay married is to not get a divorce”. What a crazy thought!!!! It’s so simple yet so hard. We’ve managed to stay married because one of us has always fought for us when the other has decided the others way of loading the dishwasher was divorce worthy. We constantly disagreed until one day we both found our lanes and got in it. Now we have an amazing relationship that we both smile about. We decided that he is the CFO and I am the CEO of the White House. I make all of the decisions for our home and he works outside of the home and decides what makes financial sense. After that we come together on a final decision.

I make choices for our home and run them by him to add to remove or just agree with. That way we both know whats going on in the home. In nature we all have our strengths, we need to figure out what they are and play them up! I’ve learned you have to give your marriage a chance to evolve. We went from two individuals into four (after kids) and were trying to make one family. Everyone had to do their part of being responsible for self and never pointing the finger at how someone else should change. I guarantee if you take some time to be the best version of you in your marriage your family will follow your example and before you know it….you’ll be one!

Steps to a Happy Marriage begin with choosing the right person. It needs to be a person that when everything is going wrong these reasons make you want to stay!

Are they the right height (you will care at some point) Im 5’9 he’s 6’7 (yummy)

Are they in the physical condition you want

What is their credit situation (stellar x2)

Are you ok with their career choice (I want to be home with kids he likes that they always have mommy)

Are you ok with things from their past that may potentially affect your future as a couple

What kind of family do they come from (this will affect you at some point)

Do you enjoy the same type of entertainment

Do you share similar interest

Do you share similar religious or spiritual beliefs

What are the 10 most important things in your life, their life and do you have more matches or differences

Are their more single or married friends in your circle (The answer should be married. Married people should not hang with single friends no matter how you justify it. Invite them out with a group not one on one, the entertainment requirements are completely different and the married person is the only one with something to lose.)

Do both of you want kids or have kids and how will you parent All of those kids as a couple. A marriage is made of 2 people. This does not include men or women that happen to have children that will be part of your relationship.

Where do each of you see yourselves in 5, 10, 15, 20 years and what are retirement plans

What are your major life goals, do they match

Do you like or dislike pets and how important is this to you

What is the mans role in the home as well as the woman role. Its kind of like a chore list you would make for your kids just on a much larger scale. Will his paycheck take care of the home and all of the bills and her paycheck go into savings? Will she stay home with the kids or will he? Will kids attend private or public? Who washes dishes and whose responsible for washing clothes.

How will the two of you handle evolution? Can you adapt if he decided to cash out his 401k to start a business and can he handle it if you take an early retirement so you can stay home and raise the kids. What if one of you decide to go back to school and take away time thats typically family time?

How will you handle conflict? What if he leaves his high earning job to become a teacher that is his life dream? Whats more important to you, finances or happiness? Its ok if its finances, you just need to make sure you have a person that feels the same way

Last but not least. What are the 5 things that could drive you to divorce. You need to know these things before you get married so your spouse knows that these things will send the marriage up in flames, no questions asked. We know the difference in petty crimes as well as crimes that get you that life sentence. Marriage is no different. Each marriage has its own rule book but we have to write it. It took us a while to learn that our marriage is no different that any job. We have a title, a role and responsibilities and we get benefits from it. There are upsides and downsides but in order to want to stay the upsides need to out weigh the downsides. Its never to late to put your manual together. Get these questions answered and theres your 20+ page outline of what you expect out of sharing a life together!Theres nothing better than a lasting love that endures but it takes work! A home with a bad foundation will slowly begin to fall, so be sure to take your time to build something that will stand strong through the storms!

I often go back and forth with my favorite season. The holiday season is my favorite….until summer arrives! Summer is here and my family and I are in our little piece of heaven! We locked up our house, packed up the dogs and headed to the beach! The beach is a place where I regain all of my sanity I have lost over the busy academic year. Lets face it, even the holidays are full of hustle and bustle and doing too much of everything. Luckily summer arrives, right at the breaking point, and it is our time to sit and enjoy some stillness. During summer over indulgence is too much so we do just the right amount of everything. There is no rush for anything and clothing is optional!

I like to break my summer into three months….

June- annual beach house birthday bash, just relax, go with the flow and catch up with friends on the beach or by a pool (again clothing optional)

July- new experience, road trips and maybe a camp or two this is when we get active

August- family vacation, back to school prep doc appointments and lots of shopping

This is how I make sure we have the best summer ever!! How do you break your summer down? Remember with a plan anything is possible! Get planning!

Happy Summertime from Lisa’s Lane

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About Lisa

Bonjour! Welcome to Lisa’s Lane, I’m Lisa a girl on the go with a passion for life. You can often find me living mi vida loca with two kids, four dogs and a husband (with a dream of two more dogs and donkeys). I’m a country girl living a sex in the city world. Family, Fashion, Food and Fun how can we go wrong!